Members in Attendance:

Jane Jacobson, Chair (2009)

Blane Harding, Colorado State University (2009)

Monica Hutchins, Hagerstown Community College (2009)

Jobila Williams, The College of William & Mary (2009)

Nathan Vickers, The University of Texas - Austin (2009)

Leigh Cunningham, Ex Officio, NACADA Executive Office

Incoming Members in Attendance:

Stanley Singleton, Paine College (2010)

Absent Members:

Dawn Henderson, North Carolina State University (2008)   

Freda McClean, Borough of Manhattan Community College (2008)

John Paul "J.P." Regaldo, University of Texas - Austin (2008)

Heather Doyle, Lakehead University (2009)

Absent Incoming Members:

Patrice Glenn, Edward Waters College (2010)

Wei-Chien Lee, San Jose State (2010)

Guests:

Vance Pierce, University of Illinois-Chicago

Todd Taylor, DePaul University

The meeting began with each person offering his/her perspective on the state of diversity within NACADA. Observations included:

• The faces of NACADA that you see in the audience are quite diverse. The faces of leadership still need more diversification.
• The Emerging Leaders program is a beginning. It includes persons who are not visibly members of minorities.
• NACADA needs to think about diversity of programs and services. Do the programs and services meet the needs of underrepresented members?
• How will the current (and future) economic status affect access to NACADA for underrepresented populations?

The Emerging Leaders program has been the primary initiative for the Diversity Committee the past two years. A new class of ten emerging leaders and mentors has been selected. A task force – Karen Thurmond, Nathan Vickers, Jennifer Joslin, and Jane Jacobson – is currently facilitating the selection, training and progress for the 07-09 class and the 08-10 class. The Diversity Committee should take action on two aspects of ELP this year.

1. Follow up with Regions on what they are doing for ELP in their regions.
2. Develop a proposal to move oversight of ELP beyond the Diversity Committee to a more autonomous part of NACADA.

Finally the committee debated on what aspect of diversity within the association should the committee next focus? Discussion focused on sponsoring a diversity event, perhaps with invited presenters from other organizations to increase visibility and collaboration. The committee will continue to explore this possibility through email conversations following the conference.